


Maui

by XxRebelWriterxX



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 20:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8815138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxRebelWriterxX/pseuds/XxRebelWriterxX
Summary: From the beginning of Maui's existence to the end of hers.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first story on here! Yay! I had fun doing a little bit of insight into Maui's life. Not my best work, but it was fun nonetheless.

The sound of a woman’s cry could be heard from all sides of the small island of which the demigod Maui was born unto. The moons shadow gleamed brightly on the waves of salty water crashing into the shore. Four young boys gathered at the water’s edge, wincing each time they heard the pained wailing of their mother. She was giving birth to yet another child. The boys did not think another child was necessary, but they supposed it was their parents’ choice. They could only hope the child would bring some happiness to their mother.

“How long does the screams last?” The youngest, Maui-waho asked. The corner of his eyes glistened with unshed tears. Despite their mother’s indifference, save for the night, he cared for her the most. The oldest boy, Maui-taha, wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “Do not despair, brother. It should not be much longer.”

The other two boys, Maui-roto and Maui-pae, huddled to their sibling’s sides. It was nearing sunrise when the cries began to quiet and eventually ceased. A new sound replaced their mother, this was of a higher pitched wailing. It was their newest sibling.

Maui-taha took his two youngest brothers hands and the left over child grabbed the youngest free hand. They walked towards the hut, for their father had told them once the cries had ceased, it would be fine for them to come and meet the baby. They were halfway to the hut that housed their family, when their mother and father suddenly stormed passed them. They got a brief glance of the small bundle wrapped in their mother’s arms.

The children noted the sour look on their parents face and they knew something wasn’t right. They exchanged looks before running back towards the beach.

When they arrived, it was just in time. Their mother held the bundle at arms length away from her. She, as well as their father, sneered distastefully at the child. “I cannot accept this as my own. I have four children, not five. The sea shall claim it as her own.” She spoke before tossing the baby as far out into the sea as she could. The children gasped in horror, fear settling into their stomachs. After all, if their mother so carelessly threw away her newborn child, what trouble would it be to get rid of them?

They heard the screaming of the infant faintly in the distance, but it was carried away with the waves. Their mother and father turned and walked away without a single trace of remorse on their faces.

Maui-waho was now freely allowing the tears to slid down his cheeks. The boy was barely four years old and he shouldn’t have witnessed something as horrific as this. The brothers walked to the spot their parents had recently been and stared out into the waves. “Will the baby be alright?” Maui-waho asked, and the innocence in his tone was almost too much for the rest of the boys.

“We cannot worry about this now, brother. The baby is gone. It is just the four of us. And we will protect one another.” Maui-taha comforted him. It did little good, however, and the boys spent the rest of the night staring out into the sea.  
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The ocean was surprised at the sudden splash in her waters. She was even more surprised to discover that it was a baby that was sinking further and further down. She felt a connection with the boy and quickly rose the child above so that he could breathe. The baby cried and the ocean knew it was because he was afraid and missed the warm, enclosed space of his mothers’ womb.

She knew what she needed to do. She needed to deliver the baby to the Gods, they would take care of him. Until then, the ocean rocked the baby gently so that she mimicked the feeling of a mother moving around. It worked like a charm and soon enough, the baby was asleep.

The ocean decided she loved the child and would protect him. She carefully moved him a crossed the seas, careful not to jostle the newborn baby boy. The baby was something special, she just knew it.  
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The demigod Maui had done many great things in his many years of life. He had lassoed the sun, stolen fire to give to the mortals, created coconuts from eels, harnessed the breeze, raised whole islands from the sea, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Maui was something special, he was a hero.

However, it wasn’t enough for him. He needed the love and affection from the mortals, craved it. It was the one thing that kept him going sometimes, despite the crushing loneliness he felt in his heart. By doing things for the mortals, he could ignore the pain he still felt from his parent’s rejections.

So Maui’s next great adventure was to steal the heart of Te fiti and give it to the mortals as a gift. He just knew the gift of creation would be the ultimate coconut on the top of the tree. This would get them to love him.

Stealing it had been the easy part. The hard part had been facing Te Ka. Maui had never faced anything quite like the lava monster. Which is probably why he’d been taken down so easily. He lost his hook and was forced to spend the next millennium on a deserted, rocky island.

That was when he met her.

Moana Waialiki was unlike any girl Maui had ever known. She had been so young when they first met, especially compared to him. But despite her inexperienced, Moana was a spitfire who was stubborn and fierce. She was braver than most mortals he knew. She even surprised him when she followed him into Lalotai, or the Realm of Monsters. Most mortals were too afraid to even think about going near Lalotai, but she just jumped right in.

He had admired her.

She had figured out that Te Ka was actually Te Fiti, something he wasn’t sure if he would’ve figured out. Moana returned the heart and saved the world. She was a legend and deserved to be treated as such. That’s why, anywhere he went, Maui was sure to tell the story of the crazy, wild-haired girl who changed his world.

As it was, Maui hadn’t seen her in ten years. After they restored the heart, Maui and Moana went separate ways. He was off to save the world from all sorts of monster, while she taught her people how to wayfind and voyage a crossed the seas. After all, that time though, Maui never forgot about her.

He often wondered if she thought about him. He was Maui, demigod of the wind and sea. How could anyone forget about him?

The years had hardened him once more, the feeling of loneliness consumed him. She had managed to subdue most of those feelings, and he had even thought that they’d disappeared completely. But after being on his own for so long, it had all coming rushing back.

Perhaps that was why he had found himself there that night, circling around the mast of one of her peoples many canoes. It had taken a while to find her, but the ocean had been more than willing to help him. After several days of searching, he was finally there. And she was somewhere on this island.

Maui spotted a shadow on the beach not too far away. He flew closer and then grinned inwardly when he recognized her. He swooped down and transformed into his human form, landing right in front of her.  
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Moana was pacing along the ocean shore, a million thoughts running through her mind. She was Chief of her people now, and this warranted a lot of responsibility and sacrifice. She hadn’t realized one of these sacrifices included her freedom.

It had been ten years since her adventure with Maui. The first five years after had been great. She and her people had traveled from island to island, finding new tribes and discovering new foods. It had been quite the adventure.

However, her people were not voyagers. They didn’t feel the call to the sea like she did. Once the excitement of something new had worn off, her people practically demanded to settle down. This island had been as good as any so this is where they made their new home. It had taken about two years to completely build it up, but it was done now. As the Chief, Moana was no longer able to go out to sea whenever she felt like it.

And this had put a heavy strain on her heart.

Just as she was finally accepting her fate on this island, her parents gave her some pretty bad news. She needed to get married.

Moana hadn’t understood. Why did it matter whether or not she had a husband? The princess had always been happy on her own, she was an independent woman. Her parents argued that every woman needed a husband to protect and care for her. Most of the girls her age was already married with at least one child.

She supposed the guy wasn’t too bad. There had been a small tribe here on this island, but they had graciously welcomed the Motunui tribe with open arms. The man was the prince of the island and it was decided their union would bring the two tribes together. How could she possibly so no to that?

She couldn’t. It was her responsibility as Chief.

Moana sighed and sunk down into the sand, drawing her legs to her chin. Oh how she missed the carefree days of her youth. And Maui. She missed him so much. Moana often thought about the demigod. He had been a part of something that had changed her life and he had become a very good friend of hers. Ten years was such a long time.

She hadn’t been expecting the sudden appearance of the object of her thoughts, but that’s what she got.

Maui appeared in front of her, smirking. He was leaning against his fish hook and looked as cocky as he usually did. “Hello, Moana.” He greeted. Moana couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread a crossed her face, even if she wanted to.

“Maui!” She practically squealed and threw herself into his arms. He laughed wholeheartedly as he wrapped his own arms around her waist and carefully squeezed the girl to his chest. She was giggling incessantly and the sound was like music to his ears… not that he’d ever admit it.

“Miss me?” He cocked an eyebrow when they pulled apart. Moana nodded quickly, not even attempting to hide her happiness. She hadn’t seen her friend in ten years, so there was no way she was holding back.

“What are you doing back? I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!” Moana asked. She sat back down on the sand and Maui followed her example.  
“Are you kidding? There’s no way I could stay away from my favorite mortal, no matter how annoying she might be.” Maui joked, lightly knocking her side with his elbow. Moana giggled and rolled her eyes. “I’m not the annoying one.” She teased back.

The two of them spent the better half of the night chatting. They caught one another up on their lives and everything they had gone through in the past ten years. Moana avoided the topic of her upcoming nuptials. For some reason, she didn’t feel right telling Maui about it. She rather he never finds out about it.

As the night wore on, the two of the had eventually laid down on their back, sides pressed against one another as they stared up at the stars. Moana felt something stirring in her chest. It was a feeling she had never felt before and it confused her.

Maui was feeling the same things as she was. However, it didn’t confuse him. Not at all. It scared the living hell out of him.

He had never felt any kinds of affection from anyone except for the cheers he received from the mortal each time he did something spectacular. He’d never felt true love before. He had never felt wanted by anyone, not until she came along.

That was what frightened him the most.

His parents had thrown him into the ocean, for God’s sake. He’d never had a true friend until Moana came along. This felt like more than friendship though. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was, he just did.

Maui was sure he loved her.

Just as Moana was sure she loved him.

It was true they had been separated for ten long years. And she had been quite young when they had gone on their adventure. But the Gods had a funny way of messing with people’s lives, be it mortal or demigod.

So where did they go from there? He supposed he should tell her his feelings. But he was afraid. If she rejected him like his parents had, Maui wasn’t sure what he’d do.

Moana couldn’t afford to think about them being anything more than friends, not when she was sure he didn’t return her affections. She had a responsibility to her tribe. She had to marry Kahale. However, Moana knew if he asked, she would leave everything behind to sail away with him. She just really hoped he wouldn’t.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. The sky was beginning to brighten and she knew the people of the island would be waking soon enough. Neither wanted that moment to end, however. Both wanted to stay this way forever.

“I’m getting married.”

Moana wasn’t sure what made her say those words. However, she regretted them the second they passed her lips. Maui tensed beside her. She looked up to see a strange expression on his face and he refused to catch her eye.

“Congratulations.” He murmured after several seconds of silence.

Neither spoke, and the air was heavy with tension. She really regretted saying a word. She needed him to understand that it wasn’t her idea. It was her role, her responsibility as Chief. She had no choose.

“I don’t want to.” She stated simply. He blinked several times, startled by her confession. He frowned and finally made eye contact with her. “If you don’t want to, then why are you?” He asked her, sounding genuinely curious.

Moana shrugged. “It’s my responsibility to my tribe.”.

Maui frowned. That didn’t make any sense to him. Moana was a free spirit; he didn’t think she’d ever truly settle down. He thought she’d always be tied to the sea. “That’s cooky-dooks.” He finally managed to say. Moana giggled at the familiar phrase.

“It is, isn’t it? It’s not me at all.” She sighed and leaned her head towards his forearm. “I just don’t want to disappoint my parents; you know? But settling down, getting married? It’s not who I am. I need to be out there on the sea, sailing to new places and having a new adventure every day. I miss the freedom.”

Maui turned his head to look down at her and noticed the tears that glistened in her eyes. “Then come with me.” He suggested.

Moana started and looked into his eyes. “What?”

“Come with me, Moana. These past ten years have been empty without you. You make me feel something that I’ve never felt before in my entire life. I feel loved. No one’s ever truly cared for me, Moana, until you came along. You make me happy. I love you, Moana, and I want to marry you.” Maui confessed.

Moana couldn’t even comprehend his words at first. He… loved her? Maui loved her, Moana, a mortal woman. It was almost too much for her to get. And then, a warm feeling bubbled in her chest and for the second time that night, a smile split a crossed her face. He loved her.

“Yes.”

His eyebrows lifted up in surprise and he didn’t dare let get his hopes up just yet. “Yes?” He asked, his heart hammering in his chest. Maui turned on his side to face her. She turned to her side, facing him as well.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” Moana giggled. “I love you too.”

Maui resisted the urge to yell out in victory. She loved him too. She was going to marry him. The demigod bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. It wasn’t his first, by far, by despite how chaste it was, it was definitely his best.

Moana pressed forward, deepening the kiss. She reached her free hand forward and ran it through his silky curls. His free hand had wrapped around her waist to pull her closer. And when they pulled away, Moana cuddled into his chest. She had imagined this situation thousands of times, but nothing was better than the real thing.

“I love you.” He murmured into her hair. She giggled pleasantly. “I love you too.”  
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The tribes had been a lot more accepting than Moana had thought they’d be. Probably because she was marrying a demigod. Demigods trumped mortals. Her parents were just happy that she was happy.

The wedding was a spectacular affair. Everyone on the island attended and Maui ensured that everyone was entertained. Moana had a smile on her face the entire time. She had never felt this happy before. And as soon as the wedding was over, Maui and Moana sailed away from the island, off on a new adventure.

They had one child, a little girl who shared Moana and Maui’s spirit. They named her Nawai, meaning the waters, because she was born on the sea. She was beautiful and powerful. She shared immortality just as her father did. Moana was happy with this.

Now, Maui would never be alone.

The years passed too fast for Maui’s taste. It was difficult for him to watch her fade away as she aged. But even as her hair turned white and her skin became loose, Maui thought she was beautiful.

“What do you expect to come back as?” Maui had asked Moana one afternoon. It had been a bad night and Moana was weak from the sickness that was slowly killing her. She was now eighty years of age, and Maui knew she didn’t have long to go.

Nawai was sleeping on the other side of the room. She was technically fifty years of age now, but she didn’t look a day over twenty. She refused to move far from her mother in these final hours.

Moana hummed thoughtfully at the question. “I belong on the ocean.” She spoke softly, ignoring the itching in the back of her throat. “But I also belong with you. Wherever you are is where I choose to be.”

Maui wiped a single tear from the corner of his eyes. “You’ll always be with me, princess.” He joked lightly. Moana rolled her eyes, but smiled affectionately anyways. “Don’t call me, princess.” She whispered.

He reached forward and moved a strand of hair from Moana’s face. “I love you, Moana of Motunui.” Maui whispered and gently kissed her forehead.

“I love you too, Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero to all.” Moana whispered back before closing her eyes. She took one last shuddering breath before her heart stopped completely. She glowed bright blue and Maui knew her spirit had left her body.

Maui cried freely as he held one of her hands to his chest. “I love you.” He repeated over and over again. His heart broke the minute hers had stopped. He had lost the one person who had truly made him feel happy.

He felt an arm on his shoulder and looked up to see Nawai. She knelt down beside her father, tears making trails down her own cheeks, and said goodbye to her mother. Then she threw herself at her dad. He hugged her to his chest and they both comforted one another as they cried.

They only drew away at the bright blue light they suddenly appeared in the room. They looked up and over at the source. There, standing in front of them, was the blue, ghostly figure of Moana. She was way younger than when she had died, probably around the age of when Nawai was born.

“Moana?” Maui whispered as he stood up and walked towards her.

“Maui. Do not despair. We will meet again.” She assured him with a playful smile. Maui didn’t seem to hear her words. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her small, ghostly frame and hugged his wife close.

When he pulled away, Moana disappeared. But he knew that he’d see her again. Nawai walked over and took her father’s arm. “Everything will be okay, I’m sure of it.” She told Maui and he nodded in agreement.

There was never a greater love story than that of Maui, demigod of the wind and sea, and Moana of Montunui. Moana visited her family many times in her ghostly form. She hoped that perhaps, one day, the Gods would take pity and allow her to return in immortal form so she could be with her family once more.

Until then, Maui and Nawai continued to go on adventures and saving the world.

**Author's Note:**

> So definitely bittersweet. I didn’t want to kill off Moana completely, but I couldn’t find a good way to bring her back or keep her alive that wouldn’t be cliché or superficial. So I just ended it here. I like it though. It was a fun one-shot.


End file.
